Meet Ritika Singh – Boxer and Actress Rolled into One!

Ritika Singh is an Indian MMA fighter and Bollywood film actress. She fights in the Straw Weight category in the boxing league launched by entrepreneur Raj Kundra, the husband of actress Shilpa Shetty. Ritika is going to make her acting debut in the Rajkumar Hirani produced movie ‘Saala Khadoos.’ Madhavan is the lead actor in the movie.

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Ritika was born in Kalyan, a suburb of Mumbai in 1996. She began training in Kick Boxing and Karate from the age of 7 years. The 5’6” toughie has won many international competitions and MMA fights held around the world, including in countries like Iran, Vietnam, and Portugal. Her current goal is to be the winner of the SLF.

Saala Khadoos

Saala Khadoos is a Bollywood movie that is set to hit the theaters on Jan 22 2016. It stars Madhavan and Ritika Singh in the lead roles and is directed by Sudha Kongara. The Tamil version of the movie is called ‘Irudhi Suttru’ and will be released on the same date in Tamil Nadu.

Madhavan approached Hirani, with whom he is good friends, after reading the script of ‘Saala Khadoos’ and asked him to present it. Hirani eventually decided to produce the movie as well.

The movie involved a lot of fighting and boxing, and for long stretches of time, by the female lead. Thus, they had two options, i.e., to get an actress to train and get the body and strength of a fighter or to train a boxer to act. Rajkumar, Madhavan, and others associated with the movie opted for the latter and started searching. This is when they came across Ritika, the MMA fighter in Raj Kundra’s boxing league.

Ritika was a natural actor and she did not need much training. She even did the Tamil version with ease even though she did not know the language. Hirani however attributes this to her hard work and her natural talent.